Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for loading devices during the startup of a node, such as a server.
Background of the Related Art
A basic input output system (BIOS) or a unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI) provides firmware that is used during the process of booting a computer. The BIOS code initializes and tests system hardware components and loads a boot loader program or operating system from a data storage device. As firmware, the BIOS is difficult to modify and the computer will boot in the same configuration until the BIOS is updated.
A computer with a complex configuration, including a large variety of component types and features, can require a considerable amount of time to boot. This is true even if the computer is being rebooted simply to load an additional diagnostic tool in an operating system, or to perform simple checks of health and inventory. For example, a single full configuration boot of an eight (8) socket high-end computer system with max capacity DIMM may require as much as 20 minutes according to chipset vendor published times. Furthermore, an I/O card can spend up to one minute per port looking for devices out on a storage area network (SAN), even though such devices may or may not exist and may be part of the problem itself where the SAN adapter itself is in question.